Western appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1885-18??, 1887-06-11
COUNTRY LIFE AND WORK.
JUNE.

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While billaging the buttercup.
To store the golden honey up;
o June the month Of bluest skies,
Dear to the pilgrim butterflies,
Who seem gay-colored leaves astry,
Blown down the tides Of amber day;
June the month of merry song,
OF shadow brief, of sunshine long;
All things on earth love you the best
The bird who carols near his nest;
The wind that wakes and, singing. blows
The spicy perfume of the rose:
And bee, who sounds his mufied horn.
To celebrate the dewy morn;
And even all the stars above
AL night are happier for love,
As il the mellow notes of mirth
Were waited to them from the earth,
June such music haunts your name;
With You the summer chorus camel
-[Frank Dempster Sherman in st. Nicholas
Tor June.l
PLANT LICE.
The first plant lice that appear in
spring are Matched from eggs laid the
previous autumn, and are exclusively
females. From these the species is
propagated throughout the season by
what is known as asexual generation,
th, young being born alive through
many successive generations, and with
out any pairing Of the sexes. The
males and perfect female s-i. e., those
capable of depositing fertile eggs, only
appear late in the season. 1t is said
that the male form of the cabbage aphis
has not yet been discovered. Until
quite recently the eggs of the hop aphis
had not been found, but it is now
thought that they are deposited on the
terminal twigs of plum trees, and sew
eral other species are believed to deposit
: their eggs on plants entirely distinct
from the ones upon which they feed.
The peculiar, viscid swedish sub
stance that sometimes appears on the
. leaves of pear and some other trees in
summer, and which is known as s'honey
dew" is largely, if not entirely Sc
erection of the aphis. Ants are fond of
this secretion, and hence are always
found on plants infested with plant lice.
Indeed, the latter are treated by the ants
much as if they had been reduced to a
state of domestication. It is known
that the ants frequently transport the
lice from place to place, that they know
how to cause them to yield their sweet
secretion at will, and they are also
Thought to protect them from their in
sect enemies. They are called "ants'
cows"
Last year the damage by aphis to
fruit growers and nurserymen in West
ern New York alone must certainly
have amounted to hundreds of thousand
If not to millions of dollars. But this
is by no means the only locality that
suffered, nor is the past the only season
in which cultivated plants have been
injured by them. 1t is estimated that
the injury to the hop crop of England
in 1882, from the aphis, amounted to
$8,0OO,OOO. The dreaded phylloxera of
Europe, that has threatened to annihi-
late grape growing in many localities,
belongs to the family of plant lice, and
there are many other injurious species.
Perhaps no insect with which we
have to contend is so difficult to bat
tile successfully in the open air. With
nursery trees and herbaceous plants,
kerosene emulsions or solutions of
,whale-oil soap prove partially salts
factory. But the insects are so small
and so numerous, that it is practically
impossible to reach them all, and owing
to their extremely rapid multiplication,
the few that escape soon envelope the
the plants anew. In the case of large
trees, their destruction becomes much
more difficult. On the whole, the
mastery of the aphis in the open air
must be regarded as one of the unsol-
we'd problems in horticulture.
)
THE SHIPPING CRATE.
Those who grow produce for market
do not need to be told of the Importance
of neat and proper packing to secure
ready sales and best prices. The farm
Ell sometimes has crop, such as an
unexpected crop of early apples, that
he would gladly turn into money, but
he is not provided with baskets for
for packing his fruit, and if sent in bar
rels the fruit would arrive in bad order
and bring low prices. To such the
bushel crate comes as a ready resource
A bushel crate is easily made, and forms
q neat and handy package for nearly all
kinds of produce. To make bushel
crate there are required three pieces,
each eight by fourteen inches, for the
end and center piece; the strips or laths
for the sides are two feet long. The
width Of these depends upon the article
to be packed. Sixteen strips are COM
monty used, with spaces between for
ventilation. Otter the corners Of the
end and middle pieces are cut off; this
makes the crate octagonal in shape,
which is an advantage, as it allows of
better ventilation when the crates are
stacked together. In building the crates
thetwo strips at the top are nailed down,
to allow an opening through which to
fill it. In packing in crates, as in bar
rels, they are to be shaken to settle the
contents, which should project slightly
at the top to require some pressure to
bring down the last Stats, which serve
as a cover, into place. Vegetables and
fruits should always be packed with
pressure, otherwise they become bruis-
ed and injured generally in transit.
BAD DOORS IN MILK.
When COWS first get on full feed Of
grass at this season they are apt to
scour badly. If shut up at night and
MIXED in close stables night and
morning their milk will absorb the
,odors from their manure and become
extremely offensive. If cooled as